Chapter 61: The Manipulator Behind the Scenes
"The road you walked?" Linlang was shocked, and Du Yunzhang, Luo Mei and others also widened their eyes.
"How is this possible?" Luo Mei couldn't help but ask, "Since entering the tomb, I have been strictly following the tomb map. Even if the secret door in the Five Dragons Holding the Holy Coffin tomb chamber is not shown on the map, and the tomb passage turns back to the tomb chamber, it can't be the same path we took before, because the direction is completely opposite. It's impossible to return to this tomb chamber."
"Hahahaha!" Yin Chuan, for some reason, burst into laughter, his voice resonating like a bell in the empty, gloomy tomb, shaking everyone's hearts. "That's right! That's right! Of course, we can't go back to that tomb, because... because this place is not the same tomb where the treasure coffin is actually placed!"
Luo Mei was stunned when she heard Yin Chuan's words.
"Wha...what? Say it again?"
"It's obvious that the previous tomb and this tomb are completely different tombs. And, if my intuition is correct, the previous tomb that is exactly the same as this one is right above our heads."
"Intuition?" Fan Zheng was so angry that he almost laughed out loud. "You're just a small-time thief in the underworld. When has your intuition in tombs ever been more accurate than that of a veteran tomb raider like Di Feiyan? Aren't you afraid of being laughed at?"
"Brother Yin, even if it's just intuition, you should have a convincing explanation, right? What makes you say that my treasure map is wrong?" Luo Mei asked.
Yin Chuan looked at Luo Mei calmly, "It's already this late, isn't it time for you to explain how you got the detailed information about the secret treasure in the Shen Wansan Tomb? And from whom did you get this treasure map?"
"This..." Luo Mei was still a little hesitant.
"Luo Mei, what are you worried about?" Du Yunzhang frowned and asked anxiously.
Luo Mei bit her lip, as if she had made up her mind. "Okay, then I'll tell you. The details of the so-called Shen Wansan Tomb and the 'Secret Treasure of the Grand Canal,' as well as the treasure map, were all obtained from a wandering woman. Although we met by chance at the wedding banquet for Master Lan's fifth concubine, she treated me like an old friend who had been reunited after a long separation."
"A woman? Why would she tell you this? Did she know you were making a living in the tomb-robbing business?"
"I also asked her. Her brother, a scumbag, heard about the famous tomb-robbing expert Di Feiyan and retired from the underworld. He married into the Lan Mansion and became the third concubine. Unfortunately, he lost the information and treasure map that he had obtained by chance, which contained a secret treasure in Shen Wansan's tomb. I was intrigued when I heard this, and asked this woman indirectly if she could give me this information. She readily gave me everything she had, and also gave me a spiritual little monkey as a gift."
"Hey? Didn't you say that you bought the monkey from a monkey trainer?" Du Yunzhang asked.
"Hey, this is because I don't want to reveal more details."
"But I don't quite understand why you insist on hiding the truth? Why keep it secret from us?" Yin Chuan asked.
Luo Mei sighed, "You're a wuxia artist. You should know that no matter what profession you're in, your reputation comes first. I'm somewhat of a name in the tomb-robbing business. It's not nice to let others know that my information was given to me by someone else. Especially Du Yunzhang. He'll definitely laugh at me for using the reputation of Old Eunuch Lan to get this information."
"Tsk, I'm not as boring as you think!" Du Yunzhang curled his lips.
"How much do you know about that woman?" Yin Chuan asked.
"I don't know much, I just found out her last name is Nie from our conversation."
Last name Nie?
Yin Chuan shuddered and glanced at Du Yunzhang and Linlang. It was clear that they also understood what Yin Chuan meant. ——The last name is Nie, could it be her?
That's right, it was Nie Rumeng, the member of the organization who escaped from Luyuanzhuang. Could it be that she had accidentally found Luo Mei, and then accidentally dragged Yin Chuan, Du Yunzhang, and Ou Yelinlang into this tomb-robbing team? Could all this be attributed to inexplicable coincidence?
The answer is obviously no.
"What does what you're asking me have to do with your intuition?" Luo Mei asked Yin Chuan.
"I just want to verify the reliability of your source. From what you've said, it's basically unreliable."
Luo Mei's eyes widened as she opened her mouth to retort, but Du Yunzhang interrupted her, "Yes, since you said the information and the treasure map came from that woman named Nie, I think the same as Old Yin. In short, Luo Mei... you were deceived by her. She is the real mastermind behind this tomb-robbing farce."
"Why did she do this? Just because she has a grudge against you? Did she go through all this trouble to lure you into this? But what were the reasons for the deaths of Tan Zhuozi, Yuan Laoer, and Master Lan? That woman surnamed Nie shouldn't have any grudges against these people, right?"
Yin Chuan smiled coldly, "I understand why she wants to do this. It's just their last name!"
"Surname? What does that mean?" Luo Mei was confused.
"You don't need to ask any more questions. What's happening behind the scenes has nothing to do with you."
At this time, Fan Zheng, who was standing opposite the coffin, was getting impatient. "Hey, I say! You guys are talking about this and that, do you have any conclusion? Is Shen Wansan's secret treasure real or fake?"
"As for the secret treasure, there must be one, but it's not the one in the box in your hand," Yin Chuan said.
Yin Chuan's words made everyone a little confused. He just said that the whole arrangement to rob Shen Wansan's tomb was a scam, but why did he say that the secret treasure did exist?
"Old Yin, the more I listen, the more confused I become. Where is the secret treasure you mentioned?" Du Yunzhang asked.
"Wait, wait!" Fan Zheng quickly interrupted their conversation. "What makes you so sure the box in my hand doesn't contain a secret treasure? Isn't this a premeditated show you've put on for me? You're planning to outwit me if a brute force attack doesn't work?"
"It doesn't matter if you don't believe me," Luo Mei said with a gentle smile, "I heard you moving around in the coffin just now. I guess you must have opened the mechanism of the box using the method I told you. You can verify it now, and it will also resolve my doubts."
"But... I advise you not to do this, otherwise something bad might happen." Yin Chuan reminded.
Fan Zheng was half-believing and half-doubting, not knowing whether to listen to Luo Mei and open the box, or to listen to Yin Chuan and not act rashly.
"You... one of you plays the good cop and the other plays the bad cop, you just want to disturb my mind and take advantage of my dilemma and distraction. I understand that I must make a decision right now!" As he said that, Fan Zheng took out a hexagonal box and suddenly opened the lid.
Except for the fourth concubine, everyone stared at the box with wide eyes, curious about whether there was a so-called "secret treasure" inside and what the "secret treasure" looked like.
"This... is this Shen Wansan's family heirloom?" Fan Zheng stared blankly at the things in the box and muttered to himself.
Inside the box was a hexagonal copper object, roughly the size of a palm. It looked like a basin, though much smaller. It had a lid, a black, uncarved surface from the rim to the lid. There was nothing carved on it, but a knob in the middle of the lid had what looked like a flip-up button.
"Will it be possible to open it by pressing this?" he muttered again.
Yin Chuan suddenly shouted, "Don't move!" But it was too late. Fan Zheng's fingers had already snapped the button down. With a crisp "click," the lid of the hexagonal box opened a crack. Before Fan Zheng could completely open it, he felt a wisp of light yellow smoke slowly emanate from inside, gradually spreading outward from the box.
"Ah! It's smoke!" Du Yunzhang exclaimed.
Everyone was horrified and quickly covered their mouths and noses with their sleeves. Only the Fourth Concubine remained dazed, unaware of the approaching danger. Linlang quickly took off her coat to cover her mouth, but she still struggled and refused to obey. Fortunately, the Fifth Concubine Yu Zhenzhu helped hold her down, and only then did she reluctantly calm down. Everyone retreated quickly. Fortunately, the smoke was not large, and it gradually faded after it dispersed.
But Fan Zheng, who was closest to the box, was not so lucky. Although he took precautions immediately, the box was so close to him after all, the yellow smoke still managed to find its way into his mouth and nose.
"Ah! This... this is your... your trap..."
He instantly felt dizzy and held onto the coffin lid with his hands, barely holding on to avoid falling. Seeing this, Yin Chuan covered his mouth and nose tightly while quickly walking around the coffin, opened the water bag, and splashed the water on Fan Zheng's face. Fan Zheng suddenly shuddered and his consciousness, which was about to disappear, suddenly returned.
"Old Yin, what are you doing?" Du Yunzhang was completely baffled by Yin Chuan's actions. He thought they could capture Fan Zhengzhong while he was unconscious from the smoke, thus solving the biggest problem of this trip. But why did Yin Chuan just pour water on him to wake him up?
"You...why did you want to wake me up?" Fan Zheng was also confused.
"Because I don't want you to be the next victim!" Yin Chuan answered firmly.
"Old Yin, I'm increasingly confused by what you're doing. We finally had a chance to capture him, but you did this...how could he become the next victim?" Du Yunzhang pressed.
Yin Chuan didn't answer him immediately, but continued to say to Fan Zheng: "Do you believe it now? There is no secret treasure in the box. It is clearly a trap waiting for tomb robbers to fall into it!"
Now Fan Zheng had to reconsider whether the secret treasure in Shen Wansan’s tomb really existed.
"But you said there must be a secret treasure. Where is it?"
"As for that secret treasure... maybe you won't believe it—it's been with us the entire time, and it actually has nothing to do with this mausoleum at all."
Everyone in the tomb, including the fourth concubine, looked at Yin Chuan, wondering where he was coming from.
"Have you always been by our side? Brother Yin, please explain clearly!" Luo Mei asked impatiently.
"Just now, we were blocked by the stone door in the tomb passage. After I guessed another way, I almost figured out the whole thing as I walked. The so-called "secret treasure" of Shen Wansan actually refers to two unrelated things. One is the so-called tomb of Shen Wansan, and the other is the secret treasure. So, let's start from the beginning of everything——"
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